From all the research done to write this book, the one common element among the profiles included in it can be summed up in a single word: focus.   Each profile found a singular goal to reach early in their lives.  This is also something a career consultant does.  Once that goal was found, the athletes used their own body's natural growth patterns (puberty) to their advantage in pursuing those goals.  Two used dance with one achieving fame on screen with it while the other achieved fame on the ballfield with it. Both showing how two disparate art forms could be combined.  The others used the time to practice their craft obsessively.  That singular focus brought them those goals.